"Do you now admit that you are in my power?" said he.
"All is not yet finished," answered the marquis, with disdain; "I have not come here alone; I have troops—"
"Listen," said Zeno Cabral to him, sharply interrupting him.
At this moment a horrible clamour arose in the plain.
"What is that?" cried the marquis, with alarm.
"The war cry of Indians," coldly answered the partisan—"who are massacring your soldiers."
"Oh, it is not—it cannot be—my soldiers are brave, they will defend themselves," cried the general.
"They will be massacred," pursued Zeno Cabral, "and those who will escape the massacre will be burned alive."
"Burned alive!" cried he.
"Do you not see that, for some time, the air is rarefied; the Indians have fired the plain;" and turning towards the Montoneros, "To horse!" cried he, in a thundering voice, "To horse! We have scarcely the time to escape!"